Watching, Waiting
by RoseMarie Fanfics
Summary: A mysterious being is talking to Peach through her dreams. He has taken someone dear to her, and tells her to make her move. So, she does. Her lover is gone, so Peach must seek help in others- that she never thought she would have to get along with. Will she find love with one of her temporary allies? PxM and later PxLudwig. Inspired by Kaiimi and Elemental Queen. Enjoy!
1. Dimension

**A/N: Yay! I'm writing my first Mario horror fanfic, inspired by two amazing Mario horror fanfic authors: Kaiimi and Elemental Queen! This fanfic might be two to three chapters. I don't want to make it too long, considering the fact that I have other fanfics to be working on... *glances nervously at fans of Kidnapped By Koopalings* But I think that it will come out well**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places or things mentioned in this chapter. Or maybe this fanfiction. I haven't decided about OCs.**

* * *

_I see you in the distance. I run to you, faster and faster, until my legs are on fire. I fall into your arms. You twirl me around, I laugh. We are about to kiss. My eyes are closed, but yours aren't. At the last second, I open my eyes to look into yours. Your deep, beautiful cyan eyes. I see—_

_Hatred. Pure anger is evident in your fiery eyes. The blood red is not you. It was never you._

_I scramble back, away from you. No, not you, that is not you. It. I try to run away, but it grabs my arm. And raises the bloody, rusty knife._

_I shriek and feel tears building up. They bite at my eyes and push to come rushing out. It brings the dagger closer and closer to me, right above my racing heart. It thrusts the knife into my chest with a bloodcurdling cry of victory. I look up into the red eyes that were once the eyes of my one lover._

_"Why..."_

* * *

Princess Peach woke up screaming. Her pillowcase was soaked with tears. "What was that?" she shrieked. "Why? Why!"

At the sound of the princess' screams, Toadsworth rushed into the room. "Princess! Oh, Princess! What on earth happened?!" He grabbed tissues and set them next to her.

"Toadsworth... I had a nightmare... It was... horrible," Peach whispered. She hugged her knees to her chest and bundled her body in the blankets. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were wet.

"Tell me what happened, dear," Toadsworth offered comfortingly.

Peach didn't want to tell Toadsworth what actually happened, in fear that he would worry. So she made up a dream. "Mario was trapped by King Boo again," she lied, making sure that she added a sniff or two to make it more believable. "But this time, I had to go in and the ghosts were even worse." On and on she went, explaining what happened in her unreal dream.

When she finished, Toadsworth looked up at her. "I can see why you were scared," he said softly. "Thank you for telling me."

"Thank you for listening." Peach waved and managed a weak smile as Toadsworth walked out of the room.

The second Toadsworth left, Peach lunged for the phone on her bedside table. She waited for someone to answer, and thankfully, she did.

"Peach! I was having the best dream! Thanks a lot," Daisy whined into the phone. At the word 'dream,' Peach cringed.

"Daisy, I had the most horrific dream," she started. Peach then proceeded to explain the whole nightmare in vivid detail.

Peach could hear silence on the other end. Finally, she heard a voice. "... Wow," Daisy managed to mutter, clearly shaken. "That makes _my_ nightmares sound like a fluffy bunny on a rainbow colored pogo stick." Peach laughed weakly at Daisy's comparison.

"But, what do you think it means?" Peach asked, more to herself than to Daisy.

"I dunno... Maybe it's just that you stayed up too late, or that you ate too much before you went to bed..." Daisy was trying, and failing, in Peach's opinion, to come up with a logical explanation.

"I don't think so, Daisy," Peach said doubtfully. "Maybe it's trying to tell me something..."

"Don't be silly." Daisy, being, well... Daisy, eliminated any chance of paranormal activity. "I'll see you at the match!"

"Match?" Peach asked. Had she forgotten something?

Apparently, she had. "Yeah, silly! The tennis match? I think you're up against Bowser Jr. and I get Bowser," Daisy informed her rather glumly. "I don't remember the rest, but I think you get that Ludwig kid sometime. We get the 'Dastardly Duo' beginning of this game, huh, Peach?"

"Yeah," Peach sighed. This was going to be a long match...

* * *

Peach arrived at the court, which just happened to be in the Darklands, in her sports outfit. She took out her lucky racquet and swung it around for a couple seconds, trying to stretch out. Once she was finished, she put the racquet back in her bag and walked over to where it looked like everyone was standing.

She heard a voice greet her before any other. "Hello, my beautiful little Peachy." She sighed. It was Bowser.

"Hello, Bowser," she spit in his direction, paying no mind to the indignant looks on his seven Koopalings' faces or his son tapping her leg. She gently, albeit forcibly, shooed Junior away and stepped onto the court. "So, who's playing?"

"Why the hurry Peachy? You usually like to chat," said the exact reason that Peach wanted to start the match as soon as possible. Peach gulped and turned to face Mario, his cap hiding his eyes.

"W-why are you wearing your c-cap like that?" Peach stuttered, scared.

"Oh, I am?" Mario pushed the hat upwards with his thumb, revealing his big blue eyes. "I didn't notice." He smiled at Peach, and she smiled back.

Temporarily forgetting about the horrid nightmare, she ran onto the court with her racquet. "Are we gonna play or what?" she called playfully to the others. They all smiled to each other and joined the jubilant princess on the tennis courts.

Peach got into her beginning stance. 'I still don't see why they would let a six year old play tennis with a bunch of twenty year olds. And older,' she added after glancing over at the blue caped Magikoopa preparing to serve. 'No matter. He can play just as well as the rest of us! But, that Larry's even better,' she mused, sneaking a look at Larry performing his Special Move on poor Yoshi.

"Mama Peach! Are you gonna serve?" Junior asked innocently, staring curiously at her.

"Oh, of course, Junior!" Peach hurriedly responded, realizing that the ball was in her possession. She tossed the ball up and hit it with a satisfying 'thwack,' signaling the beginning of the tennis match.

Junior, um... wiped the floor with Peach. 'Oh well,' Peach thought, still in high spirits. 'I'm going up against that Ludwig kid. Not kid; he looks like he's seventeen!'

"And that I am, fair princess." Peach turned around. "You were thinking aloud, weren't you?" Peach nodded. "Ah, I do that all the time with important things... Then I end up forgetting what it was before I can get it on paper or something." The two laughed. "Oh, pardon my manners Princess. I am Prince Ludwig Von Koopa, heir to the throne of the Koopa Kingdom. A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Princess." He offered his arm to Peach and grinned politely.

"You're quite the gentleman," Peach giggled as they reached the court that they were playing on.

"Why thank you, Princess." He picked up the ball, and whacked it over to Peach's side of the court.

Peach barely hit it back without snapping her racquet. 'He has so much power!' she thought. 'Kind of strange for a gentleman like him...'

He hit it back quickly just as she redid her grip on her racquet. "I think that you're great at tennis, Prince!" She missed the ball by centimeters.

"Thanks! I think that you're great too! And please," he added after diving for the ball and nearly taking the net off of the court, "call me Ludwig."

"Then you call me Peach," she said playfully after the match was over.

"Well, Peach, that was the most fun I've had in a long time. Playing tennis against Mario was simply a bore. Thanks again!"

Peach smiled as they shook hands. "It's my pleasure, Ludwig. See you around! Good luck!"

Ludwig waved to her as he walked off to play with Birdo. "Good luck to you too!"

Peach sighed as she watched his retreating figure. 'Best match ever...'

* * *

Peach plopped down on her bed in her nightclothes. She thought back to the other matches of the day. 'Roy was a skill type,' Peach thought, bubbling with chortles. 'His Special Move was _so_ feminine!' She collapsed into a fit of giggles thinking about the butterflies emitting from his racquet.

Peach covered herself with the bedspread and rested her head on the pillow. She slowly, but surely, began to fall asleep.

* * *

_You're standing there. I can see your eyes. They are blue. Your blue._

_It is standing farther away. I can see its eyes too, even though I wish I can't. They are shining red, lit with a burning fire. Its red._

_You and it are both standing. You reach one hand out to me, as if trying to take my hand in your own. Your eyes are filled with hope and longing. Your blue eyes plead._

_It raises a hand of its own, bringing down yours. Its eyes are malevolent, hateful. It then speaks. It speaks with a voice of cruelty and lust for blood and battle. "I have him. I have been here for a long time. I have made my first move. I await yours. Until then, I will be watching. I will be waiting."_

_I look at you. I look at it. "I will make my first move. You will cheat, I presume?" I spit._

_"Ah, no. I always try to play fair. Though you are right, I will be, ahem... assisted." As demonstration, it snaps its fingers, causing fireworks to explode in the air around you. You cower._

_"I will make my first move. Now go!" I scream at it. Anger is bubbling inside of me._

_"Now now, don't be like that..." it chuckles. Suddenly, I feel my energy slipping away from me. I fall to my knees. "Earlier, you saw what I can do. I would much rather this happens, however. Much more painless. For the both of us." Quickly, I see a pained expression on its face, but it is gone as quickly as it had appeared. My energy returns to me and I shakily stand up._

_"Oh, and I don't like you addressing me as 'it.' Call me 'Dimension.'" I nod._

_"Great. Now that everything is settled, I await your first move." Dimension grabs you and says one final word. "Ciao!"_

_He awaits my first move. I must act. And I must act knowing that he will be watching, waiting._

* * *

**A/N: Oh my gosh. The experience was amazing! Writing the suspense, adding the few bits of humor, possible romance, horror! Elemental Queen and Kaiimi: I hope that you guys discover this, and if you do, then I hope you like it! It is the longest ANYTHING (chapter, one-shot) that I have ever written so far, and I hope you guys like that! **

**This will probably have multiple chapters. Like, more than two or three. XD I'll try to make the chapters longer.**

**Oh, and tell me in the reviews if you know who this 'Dimension' person is! I think I made it kinda obvious... If you've played a certain game.**

**Enjoy! See ya in Chapter 2!**

**Rose :D**


	2. I'm No Murderer

**A/N: Woohoo! Chapter 2 time! Hope you guys like it!**

**Disclaimer: Nintendo owns everything mentioned in this chapter.**

* * *

Peach sat up in her bed, shocked. 'Dimension...' she thought, hugging the pillows in thought. 'Is he someone I know?'

'He is smart to disguise himself as Mario. If he hadn't, I would have been able to describe him to—' She stopped, realizing that she couldn't call on Mario and Luigi to solve this problem. 'Make your first move. What does he mean by that?'

_Do something big, _she heard a small voice tell her in the back of her mind. _Do something to slow him down._

Peach jumped, surprised. 'Who are you?' she thought. No reply came. 'Well, maybe he is just a little voice in my head...' Peach concluded doubtfully. 'I don't think I'll call Daisy about this one,' she thought. 'I'm just going to think about it myself.'

She hurriedly got dressed and ate breakfast. "Good morning, Toadsworth," she said, but it was muffled by the cereal in her mouth.

"My, Princess! What's the hurry?" Toadsworth asked, staring as she scarfed down her cereal.

"I might be late for soccer practice with Daisy. I don't wanna miss that," she answered quickly. A little too quickly, to Toadsworth.

"You're sure?" he asked, raising an eyebrow and grinning mischievously. "If you're going to see Mario, you can just tell me. You know that I think the guy is great for you." He then smiled genuinely at the princess.

"Okay Toadsworth, but I am just going to see Daisy."

Toadsworth smiled. "Okay, I believe you. Have fun, and don't get scraped up too bad!" he called over his shoulder as Peach ran out the door.

"I won't, Toadsworth! See you later!"

* * *

Peach walked to Mario and Luigi's house, adjusting her dress in just the right way, the way that made her look like a princess. She delicately knocked on the door.

Almost immediately, Luigi answered the door. His hair was askew and his overalls were not green, but black and it was more of a jumpsuit.

"Hello, Mr. L," Peach said as politely as she could. Maybe Mario could get along with him, but he drove Peach mad with his snarky attitude and- as he called them- witty little jokes. Luigi's alter ego was unbearably annoying. And to top it all, he was in love with her.

"Hey, babe. You gonna come around this time?" He smiled and flexed his -rather large- muscles. "You can't deny it. You're loving this." The smile turned into a smirk.

Peach shuddered in disgust. "No. I'm here to see Mario."

Mr. L's face hardened. He was definitely friends with Mario -why else would they live in the same house? - but he was sometimes jealous of him. He was the hero of the Mushroom Kingdom. Everyone loved Mario, the greatest man alive.

Mr. L, however, was a joke. When he wasn't being reminded of how evil he was, he was being laughed at. Mocked. Made fun of. It hurt, but he tried to learn how to tune them out. He learned it from Peach.

Peach shoved her way into the house as politely as possible. "Um, Mario's in the living room, right?"

Mr. L sighed. "Yeah, he is. But he might be sleeping, I'll warn you. If looks could kill, you'd be dead the second he looked at you after you disturbed his beauty sleep."

They both chuckled. "Thanks," Peach replied.

"No problem."

* * *

Peach walked into the living room of the Mario residence. Mario was laying on the couch, sleeping. 'I hate to have to wake you,' she thought, 'but it's for a good cause.' She lightly tapped his shoulder.

His eyes slowly fluttered open, and Peach watched as shock registered at the sight of her. "What are you doing here, Princess?" he asked.

"Oh, I just stopped by." She glanced around the corner of the doorway, expecting to see Dimension standing there. "Just wondering, do you remember where we went on vacation in 2005?"

"Um..." Mario muttered. "I don't." Peach sighed.

"Aw..." She cleared her throat. "Well, I'll be off."

She walked out the door, hundreds of theories running through her mind. She finally concluded one thing: That wasn't Mario she had been talking to. It wasn't a sort of stand-in: he resembled Mario perfectly. It must've been a clone. She'd seen someone make a clone before. This must be the same. Dimension must have the same magic.

So, when she arrived back in the castle later, she slipped the knife under her jacket without hesitation.

* * *

'The Mario residence is once again disturbed,' she thought, frowning deeply as she knocked on the door. This time, it answered. She had decided that she would call anything of Dimension's creation 'it.'

Peach walked in and took it by the hand. She took it to Mr. L's room. 'He's welcome to find it in his room,' Peach thought, chuckling silently and bitterly. She shut the door behind them and slipped the knife out of her jacket.

"So, Peach-" it began. It suddenly noticed the knife Peach was wielding nervously and left his question unfinished, but it didn't go unanswered.

"You're a clone," she said, figuring it all out for herself as well as for it. "Dimension made you. I need to slow him down. To slow him down, I have to..." Her voice was a mere whisper. "K-kill you."

The knife flew through the air wildly, almost as if searching for its target. It screamed and backed away, but Peach was faster. She finally got the knife to hit it and blood spurted from the wound. It dropped to the ground and lay there, unmoving.

Peach looked down at the knife in her hand. She looked at its body laying on the floor. She looked from the knife to the body again and again. It tore at her heart. Even though she had murdered a clone, it stung that she killed something that breathed.

Peach opened the window and climbed out, tears freely falling from her wide open eyes. 'I'm so sorry,' she sobbed in her head. 'I'm no murderer.'

* * *

Peach automatically threw the knife into a bush outside the castle. If she was lucky, the botanists that came every month wouldn't find it. She slipped off her dress and pulled the covers over her head. Her head was pounding and her right hand was curled as if she was still holding the deadly weapon. A fitful slumber awaited her.

* * *

_"FOOL!"_

_That is the first thing I am greeted to. You are standing not too far away, with blue eyes that seem to have lost their sky-like quality. They seem to be becoming dimmer._

_"Fool!" you hiss. I stare at you, shocked. You look into my eyes. I see only darker blue orbs filled with fury. In the way back, I can see forgiveness. In the way back._

_"Wha-?" I question loudly. Suddenly, you lunge for me. I scream and jump back, but for no reason. You are trapped in an invisible cage._

_"That was my body," you whimper quietly. "THAT WAS MY CHANCE BACK!"_

_I sob, "I'M SORRY!" He reaches to strike me._

_"I DIDN'T KNOW!" I scream. "I SAID I'M SORRY!"_

_He tricked me. Dimension mislead me. He had already made his move. I need to make my real move. He will still be watching. He will still be waiting._

* * *

**A/N: It's been a while, peeps. Here's Chapter 2. Not much to say... Well, reviews, whether they be praise or constructive critism I don't really care, are greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading!**

**Rose :D**


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